Bandar Seri Begawan - A 30-year-old local man was sentenced to 21 months' imprisonment and three strokes of the cane after he was found guilty by the Magistrate's Court of outraging the modesty of a 15- year-old female victim who was then his girlfriend's sister.

Senior Magistrate Faisal DP Kifle in sentencing the defendant took into consideration that the defendant was a first offender and took into account the aggravating factors namely that the victim was only 15 years old at the time of the offence and that she was her girlfriend's sister and therefore the defendant had breached the trust.

The incident occurred when the defendant was invited by his then girlfriend to sleep over at their house at Kampong Lurong Dalam the night before the incident while their mother was away for a business trip in Malaysia.

The defendant, his girlfriend and her sister slept on the same bed in one of the bedrooms of the house.

The following day on October 3, 2009 the defendant outraged the victim's modesty while they were sleeping on the same bed.

The case was reported to the police sometime on October 5, 2009. Investigations were carried out by the Women and Children Abuse Investigation Unit, Criminal Investigation Department.

The court said that the evidence was corroborated by the victim's medical evidence, DNA evidence whereby they found the victim's DNA on the defendant's fingernail swabs and the victim's psychologist report which confirmed the victim was sexually distressed. This led to the defendant's conviction.

The prosecution was conducted by DPP Pg Hjh Hana Molina binti Pg Haji Mohammad.